Ratcliffe College

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Ratcliffe College
Location
Leicester , Leicestershire , LE7 4SG England
Coordinates	52°43′46″N 1°04′33″W / 52.7294°N 1.0758°W / 52.7294; -1.0758
Information
Type	Public school Private day and boarding
Motto	Legis Plenitudo Charitas (Charity is the fulfilment of the law)
Religious affiliation(s)	Roman Catholic (Rosminians)
Established	1845; 179 years ago (1845)
Founder	Blessed Father Antonio Rosmini-Serbati
Department for Education URN	120316 Tables
Headmaster	Jonathan Reddin
Gender	Coeducational
Age	3 to 18
Enrolment	920
Colour(s)	navy blue
Publication	The Ratcliffian
Former pupils	Old Ratcliffians
Website	http://www.ratcliffecollege.com/

Ratcliffe College is a coeducational Catholic private boarding and day school near the village of Ratcliffe on the Wreake, Leicestershire, approximately 7 miles (11 km) from Leicester, England. The college, situated in 200 acres (0.81 km²) of parkland on the Fosse Way about six miles (10 km) north of Leicester, was founded on the instructions of Blessed Father Antonio Rosmini-Serbati in 1845 as a seminary. In 1847, the buildings were converted for use as a boarding school for upper-class boys. The college became coeducational under the presidency of Father Tony Baxter in the mid-1970s. As of the 2023-2024 academic years, there were 920 students on roll at Ratcliffe, from ages 3 to 18.^[1]

The school buildings were designed by the Victorian Gothic revivalist Augustus Welby Pugin. Pugin, who is associated with Catholic architecture throughout the Midlands and north of England, is also noted for his collaboration with Charles Barry in the reconstruction of the Palace of Westminster. The Square was designed by Charles Francis Hansom, brother of Joseph Hansom, the designer of the Hansom cab. Various building works over the years have contributed to Pugin and Hansom's work, and modern buildings include a "new" gothic refectory (constructed in the early years of the twentieth century) and a Byzantine-style church.